Garage-door opener and closer



June 15 1926. 1,589,067

O. M. GILBERTSON GARAGE DOOR QPENER AND CLOSER Filed March 25. 1925 2sheets-sheet 1 liarl @ab @la @www Jiine 15 1926.

O. M. GILBERTSON GARAGE DOOR OPENER AND CLOSER Filed March 23. 1925 2sheets-sheet 2 jaar-P... E

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UNITED stares' VOTTO M. GILBERTSON, OF LA GROSSE, WISCONSIN.

GARAGE-DOOR OPEN'FR. AND CLOSER.

Application inea March 23, 1925. serial no. 17,5789.

My invention relates to improvements lin opening and closingV means forgarage doors, and it has reference more particularly to door-operatingmechanisms of thetype employing a depressible member which is adaptedtobe actuated by the wheels ot an automobile, to bring thedoor-operating means into play. lt is the principal object oftheinvention to provide a new and improved construction, in which thedepressible member is successivelyA engaged by the front and-rear wheelsof a machine approaching the garage, yor successively engaged by therear and front vwheels oit-a machine backing out of the garage, thewheels serving to depress said member twice vwhile the machine ispassing over it. These two depressions o'f the wheel-actuated member areutilized for completely opening or complete ly closing the door, `as thecase may be, and by thus making useoftwo successive depressions oi" thewheel-actuated member, instead of only one depressionthereon it is not.necessary that the movement ot said great as'would be otherwiserequired.

The depressible member above referred to, is located at a point spacedoutwardly from the garage, and it is a lurther object to provide noveldoor-operating; means controlled by said member or other'wise,'foroperating a two-sectiondoor.

'Vith the oregoingin view, the invention resides in the novel subjectmatter hereinafter described and claimed, the description beingsupplemented bythe accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a plan view partly in section and partly broken awayillustrating .the invention.

Figure 2 Vis a vertical sectional view on line Q-Q'of Fig. 1.

Figures 3 anda are detail vertical sections as indicated by lines 3-8and 1 -4 of Fig. 1.

Figure 5 is a diagrannnatic side elevation showing the doors closed anda machine approaching the depressible operating member.

Figure 5n shows in a diagrammatic plan view, the relation o'f'partsshown in Fig. 5.

Figure G is a view similar to Fig. 5 but illustrating the depressiblemember in its first lowered position, showing the door partly open.

Figure 6a is a plan view showing the relation of parts depicted in Fig.6.

Figure 7 is a viewsimilar to Figs. 5 and 6 but illustrating thedepressible member forced downwardly for the second time, effectingcomplete opening of the door.

Figure-7a is a plan view illustrating more clearly thev relation ofparts disclosed in` In the drawings above briefly described, a

garage door is shown comprising two hinged" 9 from which a second bar 10extends, this barbeing pivoted to a bracket 1ly securedv to the doorsection 2. By this .association of parts, when the door stands closed asseen in Figs. 1, 5 and 5a, rotation of the shaft 6 for one-haltrevolutioinwill e'ltect opening' olf said door. This occurs when a:machine isapproaohing the garage vto enter the same. Then the doors havebeen opened by hand however and a machine lleaves the garage, one-haltrevolution of the shaft 6 will effect closing of the doors, and it maybeexplained atl this point thatwhen the machine isto be taken from thegarage, the doors are opened'by hand but automatically closed by theinvention. Similarly, when entering the garage with a machine, thelatter automaticallyV opens the doors but the latter are again closed byhand.'

For eiilecting the required movement of the shat't 6, to produce theresults above set out, a novel arrangement of parts is provided. Iprovide a pit 12 in a portion of the driveway leading to the garagedoors, said pit being preferably ormedby the interior of a metal casing13, which casing may well have an outstanding fian'ge 14 at itsl upperend to engage the driveway. Secured in one corner of this casing, is avertically elongated guide member 15 which is closed aty its lower endas indicated at 16, the upper end of said guide member being preferablyprovided with an outstanding liange 17, a portion of which may besecured to the flange 14; by screws or the like 18. A top plate 19 issuitably connected with the Hangs 17 and is formed with an opening 20,and I have illustrated a top plate 21 for the casing 13, secured to theabove named flange 14.

Passing slidably through the opening 2O and received slidably in theguide member 15, is a vertical rack bar 22 having a wheelengaging head23 at its upper end, of any desired design. The lower end of this rackbar contacts with the upper end of a coiled compression spring 24, andthe lower eX- tremity of this spring engages an adjusting screw 25threaded through the closed lower end 16 of the guide member 15. Thisscrew may be adjusted to co-act with the spring 24 when the latter isfully compressed to limit the descent of the rack bar 22.

The teeth of the bar 22 mesh with a pinion 2G on a short horizontalshaftl 27 which is rotatably mounted in appropriate bearings 2S. Bybevel gears 29, l have shown this shaft 27 connected with another shorthorizontal shaft 30 which is rotatably mounted in a bearing 31 in thecasing 13. The shaft 31 is provided with a. ratchet wheel 32 whichco-operates with an appropriate spring-pressed dog 33, said dog beingmounted on a disk 34 which is ca 1ried by one end of a hor'sontal shaft35, said shaft being connected by bevel gears 35 with the lower end ofthe shaft 6. The shaft 35 preferably passes through a pipe 37 embeddedin the driveway, said pipe leading from the casing 13 to a gear box 38in which the gears 36 are located. Two sides of this box may well haveany desired form of bearings for the shafts 6 and 35 at the points 39.At 40, another bearing` is shown for the shaft 35, said bearing beinglocated in the casing 13.

A friction brake co-acts with the disk 34 to hold the sl'iafts35 in anyposition to which it is turned, it being understood of course that thefrictional contact between the brake and the disk can be overcome byhand when the doors must be manually manipulated. This brake is shownmost clearly in Figs. 1 and 4. 41 designates a brake shoe engaging theperiphery of the disk 34 and provided with guide pins 42 passingslidably through openings in an angle metal bracket 43 which is securedto the inner side of the casing 13. For illustrative purposes, acompression spring 44 has been shown for engaging the brake shoe 41 withthe disk 34, and a set screw 45, threaded through the bracket 43, hasbeen shown for adjusting the spring to the desired strength.

Assuming that the door stands closed and an automobile is approachingthe garage to enter the same, the operation is as depicted in Figs. 5 to7 and 5a 'to 7a. @ne front wheel of the machine strikes the head 23 anddepresses it shown in Figs. G and 6a. This causes descent of the rackbar 22, which elfects rotation of the shafts 27 and 30, the latterserving to rotate the shaft 35 through the instrumentality of the onewaydriving connection formed by the ratchet wheel 32 and the dog 33. Duringthis first depression of the head 23, the dooroperating mechanism isoperated sutiiciently to open the door sections half way, as shown inFigs. 6 and 6a. As soon as the front wheel of the machine leaves thehead 23, the rack bar 22 is again raised by the spring 24. Then, a rearwheel again depresses said head, so that a second rotation of' theshafts 27, 30, 35 and 6 is effected, which movement completely opens thedoor sections as shown in Figs. 7 and 7'". Each time the head 23 isfreed, the rack bar 22 is raised by the spring 24, and during thismovement, the shafts 27 and 30 rotate, but the shaft 35 is frictionallyheld by the brake 41, and the ratchet wheel 32 merely idles with respectto the dog 33.

After the machine has entered the garage, the. doors are closed by handand when it is again desired to take the auto from the garage, saiddoors are opened by hand. llhen this is done, and the car leaves,successive engagement of its wheels with the head 23, serves to againclose the doors. Thus, it is not necessary for the driver to leave themachine and give the doors manual attention, either when leaving thegarage or when entering the saine.

By using two depressions of the rack bar or the like 22 to effect eitheropening or closing of the doors, it is only necessary that said membershall be depressed to a rather slight extent by each wheel of themachine, whereas if one depression of said member were made tocompletely move the doors from open to closed position, or vice versa,greater depression would be necessary and consequently the depressiblemember would have to project a very undesirable distance above thesurface of the driveway.

While any desired means may be employed to limit the ascent of the rackbar 22, under the influence of the spring 24, I prefer to provide saidbar with a lateral lug 22a which is adapted to strike the lower side ofthe plate 19 as shown in Fig. 3.

Excellent results may be obtained from the general construction hereindisclosed, but it is to be understood that this disclosure is forillustrative purposes only and that within the scope of the invention asclaimed, numerous modifications may be made.

1 claim:

l. A garage door operator comprising rotatably mounted shaftinrpositively connected with the door, and pawl and ratchet driving meansfor said shafting having a wheel-depressed operating member spaced fromthe door, said pawl and ratchet driving means and said shafting beingeffective to completely open or to completely close afi the door upontwo successive depressions of said Wheel-depressed member.

2. A garage door operator comprising a pit having a top formed With anopening, a vertical rack bar passing slidably through said opening andhaving a Wheel-engaging head at its upper end, means for raising saidrack bar after each depression thereof, a short horizontal shaft mountedrotatablyr in said pit and operatively connected with said rack bar,door-operating means including a relatively long drive shaft axiallyalined with said short shaft, and a ratchet and paivl driving connectionbetween the two shafts.

3. A garage door operator comprising a pit, a vertically elongated guidemember mounted in the pit, said member being closed at its lower end, avertical bar slidable in said guide member and having a Wheel-engaginghead at its upper end, a compression spring in the aforesaid guidemember between its closed lower end and said bar for raising the latterafter each depression thereof, a top plate for said guide member, alateral stop on said bar adapted to strike said top plate to limit theascent of the bar, and door-operating means connected operatively Withsaid bar.

4. Operating means for a two-section door, comprising a Vertical shaftand means for rotatably mounting the same at one side of the door frame,an eccentric secured to said shaft, an eccentric band surrounding saideccentric, a lateral crank on one end of said shaft, a bar pivoted tosaid crank and adapted for connection With one. section of the door,another bar connected to said eccentric strap and adapted for connectionto the other door section, and means for rotating said shaft one-halfrevolution in one direction to open the door and the other halfrevolution in the same direction to close the door.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.

OTTO M. GILBERTSON.

